The instant invention relates generally to athletic shoes and more specifically it relates to an exercise device for a joint of the lower limb, which provides a resistive pivot mechanism, which will exercise a joint of the lower limb.
There has been a dramatic rise in peoples interest in physical fitness, especially in the past ten years. Health care professionals in general have been recommending aerobic activity, ranging from a full high impact aerobic workout to walking, in order to reduce LDL's specific cholesterol levels), reduction of hypertensive states, improve generalized circulation (cardiac function) and improvement of muscle tone. A significant part of this fitness renaissance has been enveloped within the athletic shoe industry. The trend in the past ten years seemed to lead the athletic shoe industry into high tech, improved performance equipment.
According to electomyographic studies of muscular activity during normal gait, the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles show a large degree of electrical activity. Contraction of this posterior tibial group occurs from the point of heel strike to toe off. The ankle itself is designed to allow twenty degrees of dorsiflexion and fifty degrees of plantar flexion.
There are available various conventional athletic shoes which do not provide the novel improvements of the invention herein disclosed.